Abstract: Based on the meteorological disaster data from 1984 to 2019 in east Gansu, the temporal and spatial evolution characteristics and disaster loss assessment of meteorological disasters were analyzed. The results showed that the loss of drought disasters was the most serious, and the loss of rainstorm and flood disasters was the least. The frequency of occurrence was rainstorm flood > hail > drought > freezing damage > gale; the frequency of meteorological disasters increased with the annual average growth rate of 23%, and presented a pattern of more in the north and less in the south, more in the west and less in the east. The direct economic loss in the northwest was more than that in the southeast, the disaster-affected population in the northwest was more than that in the middle east, and the agricultural disaster area in the northwest was more than that in the east. In the assessment of disaster loss, the frequency of light disaster year was the highest and that of severe disaster year was the lowest; the abnormal temperature and precipitation was one of the reasons for the aggravation of meteorological disasters in east Gansu.

Key words: meteorological disaster, spatiotemporal distribution, disaster evolution, comprehensive index of meteorological disaster loss, loss assessment, east Gansu